JACKSON, MI – Joshua Keith Pirtle’s fingernails were caked in Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s blood when police arrested him in the fall of 2023.

Hearing this DNA and other evidence, jurors later concluded convicted him of first-degree murder . They concluded Pirtle, 33, had stabbed Igafo-Teo 73 times in his home, leaving him dead and barely recognizable before stealing Igafo-Teo’s truck and leading police on a chase through Jackson.

But he maintains his innocence and said he wonders who the real killer is.

“We need to find out who really did it,” Pirtle said at his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Dec. 10, via Zoom from the Jackson County Jail. “It’s a tragedy what happened, but wrongly convicting someone just to be able to point the finger is not right for any side.”

Abiding state law that dict

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